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Starting in October, the Chicago Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox, three of the city’s five major professional franchises, will play their games on a new regional sports network.
In an embargoed press release, Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) announced Monday that it will launch this fall with Blackhawks and Bulls preseason games, while the White Sox will make their televised debut in 2025.
KeynoteUSA Sports Chicago, formerly known as Comcast SportsNet Chicago, had been the television home of the trio, as well as the Chicago Cubs, since 2004. In 2019, the Cubs split from the group to form their own regional sports network with Sinclair Broadcast Group . , while the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox signed a five-year extension with KeynoteUSA Sports. That agreement expires October 1.
CHSN is a joint venture between the teams and Standard Media, a privately held company based in Nashville, Tennessee that owns local television stations in Rhode Island, Nebraska, Missouri and Kentucky. News of the impending deal was first reported last month by the Chicago Tribune. When asked by Sportico, a spokesperson declined to say how CHSN’s ownership stakes are being divided up.
Any new regional sports network would have to receive consent from each of the affiliated professional sports leagues. The spokesperson said “the leagues have approved everything so far,” but he did not specify where he is in the process.
Jason Coyle, who previously served as CEO of Stadium, the Chicago-based online sports television network, will serve as CEO of CHSN, according to the release. Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the White Sox and Bulls, bought a majority stake in the stadium from Sinclair last year.
CHSN is entering the space at a time of great upheaval among regional sports networks, including the collapse and Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Sinclair-owned Diamond Sports Group.
It’s also an unfavorable time for CHSN’s future inventory, with the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox struggling as of late. Reinsdorf’s Sox currently own the worst record in Major League Baseball, while his Bulls have made the NBA Playoffs in only two of the last nine seasons, losing both times in the first round. Despite their mediocrity on the court, the Bulls remain the fifth most valuable franchise in the NBA, worth $4.56 billion according to Sportico’s latest valuations.
Reinsdorf, 88, for his part, has become an object of scorn throughout the state of Illinois, further exacerbated by his recent plea for $1 billion in public funds to finance a new baseball stadium for the Sox.
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have suffered a steep decline since winning the Stanley Cup three times between 2009 and 2015. Since then, the team has failed to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and finished the most recent season with the best place in the league. second worst record. The team’s former CEO and president, Rocky Wirtz, died unexpectedly last summer, leaving the team in the hands of his son Danny Wirtz.
According to The Athletic, the Blackhawks had been exploring their own streaming offering, as the Cubs have done with their Marquee Sports Network. Instead, Wirtz Corporation, co-owner of the United Center with Reinsdorf, will keep those ties on the airwaves as well.
In 2003, Reinsdorf, Bill Wirtz (Rocky’s father) and Tribune Company, then owner of the Cubs, launched Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The channel was renamed KeynoteUSA Sports Chicago in 2017 following Comcast’s acquisition of KeynoteUSA Universal.
A spokesperson for KeynoteUSA Sports Chicago did not respond to a request for comment.
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